1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connector disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-77138 includes first and second housings connectable to each other, a slider assembled with the first housing movably between an advanced position and a retracted position, and a coil spring interposed between the slider and the first housing. The second housing includes a releasing portion (called a “front end edge of a male housing” in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-77138). Further, the first housing includes a stopper receiving portion (called a “hooking portion” in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-77138) and the slider includes a resilient stopper (called a “holding arm” in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-77138) capable of resiliently locking the stopper receiving portion.
In the process of connecting the first and second housings, the resilient stopper and the stopper receiving portion are locked, whereby the slider is kept at the advanced position and, in that state, the slider receives a spring force of the coil spring in a compressed state and the spring force is accumulated in the coil spring. On the other hand, when the first and second housings are properly connected, the resilient stopper is pushed by the releasing portion to be lifted up in a direction to release locking with the stopper receiving portion and, associated with that, the spring force of the coil spring is released to move and bias the slider toward the retracted position. Thus, by visually confirming that the slider has reached the retracted position, it can be known that the first and second housings are in a properly connected state.
In the case of the above conventional connector, if locking between the resilient stopper and the stopper receiving portion should be accidentally released in the process of connecting the first and second housings, the slider is moved to the retracted position by the spring force of the coil spring, causing a problem of impairing the reliability of connection detection. If a reaction force of the resilient stopper is increased in view of this, it becomes difficult to release locking between the resilient stopper and the stopper receiving portion. Thus, it is possible to avoid an inadvertent movement of the slider as described above. However, if a shear area of the entire resilient stopper is increased to increase the reaction force of the resilient stopper, the resilient stopper is enlarged, consequently increasing the size of the connector.
The present invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to increase a reaction force of a resilient stopper while avoiding the enlargement of a connector.